The Lotta Watch

Therese Björck, on her way to Cyprus
(c) Svensk Fotboll


Three Kristianstad players, Ifeoma Dieke, Therese Björck och Vlora Bajraktaraj, has accepted an offer to play for Salamina, the second best team in the Cyprus' women's league. Björck and Bajraktaraj will take the trip to the Mediterranean island as soon as the Swedish season is completed while Dieke will play for Scotland in their play-off for the 2009 European championships. "It will be fun, a little adventure", said Bajraktaraj.

The season in Cyprus is from November to May, but the Swedish players will not stay that long: "These are players we want back", said manager Ulf Berglund.

Kristianstad has ties with Salamina since they played each other during the Swedish club's Cyprus training camp in April. Women's football on Cyprus doesn't hold very high standard. Salamina lost 10-0 to Kristianstad when they met during the training camp. But there still seems to be some money involved. The players gets the flight paid, free food and lodging and an allowance.
Kristianstadsbladet: KDFF-trio väljer spel på Cypern

There is already a group of Swedish players in another Cyprus club, Salamina's main competitors A.E.K. Kokkinonchorion. Read more about them here.

Olympique Lyon clearly defeated English champions Arsenal 3-0 in the final match in the 2nd group stage of the UEFA Women's Cup, setting them up against Italian Bardolino Verona and avoiding Umeå IK in the quarterfinals.

Lyon was the better side throughout the match against an Arsenal side, that was missing their most important player Kelly Smith. Lotta Schelin opened the scoreline in the 27th minute, but it took her side long to close the game. Arsenal was not harmless and had several dangerous finishes. But in a few minutes towards the end of the match, OL closed with goals from Camille Abily (76) and, again, Lotta Schelin (80). OL's website was impressed by Schelin and her "impressive power and agility".

Footofeminin: Lyon réussit le sans faute face à Arsenal (3-0)
OLweb: Epoustouflant !

Switzerland's FC Zürich Frauen proved to be a harder opponent for Lyon than Neulengbach was. A well working offside tactics and a good goal-keeper kept down the score-sheet and they were not harmless up front either. Lyon, where coach Farid Bentisti had opted to rest no less than five of the starters from the Neulengbach match, among them Lotta Schelin, went to halftime with a slightly disappointing 3-1 lead. After a goalless first 15 minutes of the second half, Bentisti decided to let Lotta Schelin on the field. Only minutes later Zürich lost defender Stillhard to a red card. The reduced Zürich were forced to reorganise and Lyon took advantage. Lotta Schelin scored two fast goals, in the 66th and 70th minute and the final result was 7-1. With two wins, Lyon have clinched at least second place in the group and thus advanced to the quarter finals.

Lyon will meet Arsenal on Tuesday in a deciding group match. A win or a draw for Lyon will give them the first place, which probably gives them Italian Bardolino in the quarters, avoiding Umeå.

Footofeminin: Lyon explose le coffre suisse
OLweb: Les Lyonnaises en quarts de finale

Olympique Lyon is hosting their second round group play in the UEFA Women's Cup, playing SV Neulengbach, Arsenal and FC Zürich Frauen. Lyon started against the Austrian champions from Neulengbach and positively cruised to a 8-0 win in front of about 2,000 home fans. As Lyon more or less set camp on the Austrian half of the field, Lotta Schelin set up Camille Abily for the first goal already in the 8 minute and then scored one herself 4 minutes later. She had several more challenges at Neulengbach's goal, but no more goals. She was replaced in the 78th minute.
Footofeminin: L'OL déroule pour son entame européenne
OLweb: Les Lyonnaises débutent idéalement

(c) VanGol @ forum.olweb.fr

For the first time since moving to France, Lotta Schelin came off the field goal-less. Olympique Lyon "conceded a draw", in the words of their website, to guesting Juvisy, 0-0. Juvisy, that finished second in the French league last season, is the only French team that Lyon didn't manage to defeat that season, making this OL's third consecutive tie against Juvisy. The closest Lyon got to a goal was a shot at the crossbar from Lotta's fellow forward, the Brazilian Katia.

More bad news for Lyon was that their Norwegian goalkeeper Bente Nordby had to leave after 80 minutes with a right calf injury. It seems uncertain if she'll be ready to play the first match in the UEFA Women's Cup second group round, where Lyon will be facing Austrian champions SV Neulengbach on Thursday.